One Dead, 14 Injured

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=440 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=headlineblack style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 5px">One Dead, 14 Injured After Driver Plows Into People in San Francisco</TD></TR><TR><TD class=storytext style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px">Wednesday, August 30, 2006SAN FRANCISCO — The driver in a bloody hit-and-run spree that killed one man and injured more than a dozen people was mentally unstable and feeling stress from a recent arranged marriage, according to relatives.
Omeed A. Popal, 29, was taken into custody Tuesday following a rampage that terrorized pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. Authorities believe it began more than an hour earlier when his black Honda Pilot fatally struck a man in the East Bay area.
"He drove on sidewalks, streets, hit people on crosswalks. It runs the gamut," said police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens.
Popal was arrested on suspicion of 14 counts of attempted murder and a charge of willful flight after causing serious injury or death, Gittens said.
A woman who identified herself as Popal's cousin said he had been having recurring nightmares about someone coming to kill him and had been taking medication.
"He thought the devil was coming to him," said Zargona Ramish, who went to the family's home Tuesday afternoon while Popal's relatives were speaking with police. "He is a very good person. He is not like that. What's wrong with him?"
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Another cousin, Hamid Nekrawesh, said a recent arranged marriage in Afghanistan, where his family is from, may have contributed to Popal's problems.
"The kid grew up here. He wasn't used to the lifestyle in Afghanistan. I'm sure that put a lot of pressure on him," Nekrawesh said.
The spree began around noon in Fremont, in the East Bay, where an unidentified man walking along the side of the road was hit by a black SUV. He was thrown into a field and pronounced dead at the scene, Sgt. Chris Mazzone of the Fremont police said.
Witnesses said the driver did not slow down.
He then crossed the bay into San Francisco, where he injured at least 14 people in various locations around the city before police boxed him in with their cruisers around 1 p.m. near the Presidio.
The victims were taken to three area hospitals. One was in critical condition at San Francisco General, where Mayor Gavin Newsom met with victims and their families.
"These are the things, these are so senseless. They're utterly inexplicable. They're impossible to rationalize," Newsom said afterward. "The fact that this individual felt compelled for whatever reason to be determined to do what he did is beyond imagination."
Some of the injured were pedestrians and some were motorists. Victims' ages ranged from 18 to 84, authorities said.
Neighbors said Popal was living with his parents in Fremont, home to the nation's largest Afghan community.
No weapons were found on the suspect, though the car had not been searched, Gittens said. There was no information on whether drugs or alcohol were involved, and it was unclear how fast he was driving, he said.
"It was very chaotic," he said. "Fortunately, we were able to take him into custody."
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Oh and I almost forgot to post something from about two weeks ago. Some guy I know later told me the tale. Seems like on a corner in a certain section of this lovely city, some crackhead walked up and gunned down a guy in a wheelchair. How's that for newsworthy and wouldn't you know it, it never hit the headlines.

"Steal from me and you are automatically enrolled in my weight gain program. Lots of servings of lead to meet your needs."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

It is just a damn shame that this guy will most likely have the ACLU and a bunch of other idiot liberals crying about his rights while the families of the hurt or dead will be hushed in order to not corrupt the 'Good' image of SF that is carried on the news every night.

I have had stories told to me of San Fran through family, people I know and the media of what a lovely place it is. I have even heard the bad from people who have never been here. I have also been given a first hand view of it since coming here and find that although California is just like any other state with it's beautiful places to visit, landmarks and good parks, a lot of it's cities and even more of it's politics are so screwed that there doesn't seem any way of undoing it at all.

I now being a resident of CA can say these things as I have first hand knowledge of it being true. While there are good people here and good things, they are being outweighed by the bad. It is a world gone mad and CA is no exception.

"Steal from me and you are automatically enrolled in my weight gain program. Lots of servings of lead to meet your needs."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

It is just a damn shame that this guy will most likely have the ACLU and a bunch of other idiot liberals crying about his rights while the families of the hurt or dead will be hushed in order to not corrupt the 'Good' image of SF that is carried on the news every night.

Click to expand...

Just think if it was a white man that had run over 14 black or Asian people, everybody would be hollering hate crime, and racism. This was a Muslim, I presume, they wouldn't even tell us that, ran over 14 people because they were there.

SAN FRANCISCO - One victim of Tuesday’s violent hit-and-run rampage may be permanently paralyzed, according to the assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case.

James Thompson was speaking at the scheduled arraignment for Omeed Aziz Popal, who is accused of intentionally running his Honda Pilot sport utility vehicle into 18 pedestrians and one police cruiser Tuesday, injuring 19 people in San Francisco. Before driving to The City, Popal also allegedly hit 54-year-old pedestrian Stephen J. Wilson in Fremont, killing him.
Popal did not appear in court on Thursday. He was at San Francisco General Hospital under psychiatric evaluation.

Thompson argued that Popal would be dangerous if released from police custody. He said Popal had indicated that he wanted to kill a police officer during his alleged rampage Tuesday, but didn’t see one.

Popal’s father and mother, who relatives say were highly protective of the 29-year-old, offered no comment as they left the courtroom.

Attorney Majeed Samara, who had been speaking for the family, appeared briefly at the courtroom Thursday, but only to tell the family in person that he could not represent Popal. After the hearing, Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Popal did not have sufficient resources to hire a private attorney.

“The family has no statement to make except to express their sympathy to everyone who was injured in this case,” Adachi said.

Adachi and Deputy Public Defender William Maas said Popal will not be able to appear in court to enter a plea until a psychiatric examination is completed at San Francisco General Hospital. Maas and Adachi would not comment on whether the defense would seek a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“All we know is that there appear to be some very severe mental problems that have been mentioned … but it’s way too early to tell,” Maas said.
Seven of Popal’s alleged victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where four remain. One of those patients remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit on Thursday, Department of Public Health spokeswoman Eileen Shields said. Three more were in good to fair condition in the medical surgical unit.

Popal faces 18 felony counts of attempted murder and 18 counts of assault with a deadly weapon — one count for each civilian victim. He also faces one charge of battery on a police officer causing injury and one charge of reckless evasion from police. Popal faces life in prison for his San Francisco charges. On Thursday, he was charged with murder in Alameda County in connection with the Fremont death.

Vera Jenkins DeFrantz, who was struck as she tried to cross the street to meet her husband for lunch, said she was lucky that she hadn’t fallen to the ground, where the car could have run her over. Although she was hurt, she had no broken bones.

“It felt unreal,” DeFrantz said. “I was crossing the street. He waited for the lady in front of me to cross. Then I heard him rev his engine. He meant to hit me, he meant to hurt me. He wanted to kill me.”

This is an update on the newsfront about this case. I agree that if it had been a different person in the vehicle, this would be a media circus. As it is, this is probably the only update to the story that will be forthcoming. He'll cop an insanity defense, do six months in a mental resort and be free to do more harm. I don't see much 'jail' time for him if any at all. Maybe we can take a lesson from this playbook. Instead of the saying, 'The truth will set you free.' it is now 'Insanity will set you free.'

Remember, if the SUV doesn't fit, you must acquit. Or, maybe this guy was 'driven' to it by the pressures of living in a non-middle eastern society and couldn't deal with it so he thought to eliminate some people so the pressure will be lessened for him. Either way he should be found guilty and done away with. I don't care if he is totally retarded. He had enough smarts to get a driver's license. He had enough smarts to know how to get to S.F. He had enough smarts to pick a target. He had enough smarts to search for a target, cops. He even possibly had the smarts enough to pay the toll at the bridge. With all those smarts, how can he be insane or even slightly retarded? Shoot him now and save us the expense of a trial. There is no doubt as to his guilt and no excuse for his actions, mental or otherwise. I guess I need to contact the LEOs around here and volunteer to do my good deed.

"Steal from me and you are automatically enrolled in my weight gain program. Lots of servings of lead to meet your needs."

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” Aristotle

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."Albert Camus________________________________

If I have managed to get through the day without wishing bodily harm to another human being, if I have gotten through the day without killing a plant, if I have been able to get at least 2 hours of sleep, if I have been able to hide my fangs behind a smile and rain on my heart behind a laugh, it has been a successful day. my evil twin